Hope (Book 2, Harvester of Light Trilogy; Young Adult Science Fiction) (7 page)

Chapter 7

My family was
allowed to stay together in our original transport.  I guess I didn’t realize
it until then but I did consider my friends to be my family.  They were the
people I was closest to, and I knew they would have my back in any situation. 
The surprising part was that even Ian made the cut.  He couldn’t change the
fact he was a harvester, but he had proven himself to be more human than
machine when he helped Jace and me find a way to escape Alliance. 

Margaret and three
of her men rode with us to the second Southern Kingdom, making the interior of
the transporter a bit cramped.  No one talked.  Zoe held onto one of my hands
while we rode in the strained silence, strangely finding strength in a person
who felt anything but.  Ash sat on the other side of me.  He kept his eyes on
the armed men sitting opposite us like he was waiting for one of them to do
something stupid.

I started to feel
a bit silly just sitting there staring at the men.  If we were going to have
any hope of merging the survivors of the first Southern Kingdom with the
outsiders, we would have to find some common ground with one another. 
Otherwise, we would remain hostile towards each other and never have any hope
in building a working community.

I stretched out my
hand to the man sitting in the middle of the other two.

“Hi, my name is
Skye.”

The man was in his
late twenties, old enough to remember the war but not too old to be set in his
ways.  He had curly brown hair and light gray eyes in a round face.  Small
brown freckles dappled his pale skin.

From the way he
looked at my outstretched hand, I wasn’t sure if he was going to shake it or
shoot it off.  Finally, his hand slid into mine as he gave it a firm shake.

“Collin.” He
said.  “This here is Jack and Flash.”

The two men
sitting on either side of him gave a small nod as their names were called.

Jack was in his
forties with grey speckled black hair.  When he smiled you could tell a few of
his teeth were rotted.  Flash was about my age with red hair and an easy grin. 
He winked at me when he caught me looking at him.  It wasn’t a flirtatious
wink, just one of greeting.

“So,” Collin said,
“you really the Queen’s daughter?”

“Biological
daughter.  She wasn’t my mother.”

Collin’s eyebrows
furrowed.  “What’s the difference?”

I explained the
difference.

“Wow, that’s kinda
messed up,” Flash said afterwards.  “So she’s your mom and your aunt at the
same time.”

“Sounds a bit
inbreed doesn’t it?”

Collin shrugged. 
“What do you expect from a woman like her?  She’s a nut and a half.”

“So what’s your
stories?  Did any of your families survive the war?”

“We’re our own
family,” Jack answered.  “Collin and Flash are like brothers to me.”

I squeezed Zoe’s
hand and looked over at her.  She smiled at me because we understood how the
men across from us felt.

“My family is
sitting in this transporter,” I said, looking at all my friends.  No one seemed
surprised by my statement except for Ian.  His expression was guarded giving
him a withdrawn look, instantly separating himself from those he thought I
considered part of my family.

“Even you Ian,” I
said to him, causing his eyes to narrow on me like he wasn’t sure he believed
me.

Ian finally gave
me one of his lopsided grins and shook his head.  “Only you would include the
black sheep of the group.”

I shrugged. 
“Every family needs one.”

The men across
from me looked puzzled but didn’t comment.  I didn’t give them a chance to
anyway.  All I needed was for them find out Ian was a harvester.  Who knew how
they would react? 

It took us almost
the whole day to get to the second Southern Kingdom.  My father said we were
traveling south of our original location which made me realize I was being
taken that much further away from Jace.

No matter how hard
I tried to block him out, Jace always found a way to the surface of my
thoughts.  If I could only know for sure he was still alive, I might be able to
gain some sort of comfort.  Since it was obvious now my father had a way to
communicate with Lucena, I decided to ask him if he thought Lucena would allow
me to speak with Jace.  The emptiness I felt without him near and completing
the circle of people I considered family left a gaping hole in my heart.

But every time I
thought about Jace I also had to wonder why he asked me not to leave the
Southern Kingdom once I reached it.  Why had he been so adamant about it when
he knew Lucena would blackmail him into staying in the Eastern Kingdom causing
us to be separated?  What terrible thing had he seen take place in my future which
would make him willingly push away someone he said he loved?

The stupid girly
part of me began to doubt he truly loved me like he said.  You don’t give up
the person you love so easily.  But then the logical part of my brain reasoned
he did what he had to do to get me and everyone else to the Southern Kingdom
safely.  He sacrificed himself for me which made me feel guilty about doubting
his love.  Basically, I was trapped in an endless circle of guilt and doubt.

“So, the two of
you boyfriend and girlfriend?”

Collin’s question
brought me back to the present situation.

“Who?” I asked.

“You and him,”
Collin said, nodding to Ash at my side.

An awkward silence
ensued.  I had no idea what to say for a space of ten seconds. I could feel
Ash’s eyes on me waiting for my answer just as much as Collin was.  I answered
the only way I knew how.

“Why do you ask?”

Collin shrugged. 
“Most of the girls in our group are hooked up with someone.  I just wanted to
know if you were free.”

“Yeah,” Ash said,
putting a possessive hand on my thigh.  “She’s taken.”

I looked down at
Ash’s hand wondering why it felt so odd for him to touch me that way.  Then I
looked up at his face and saw him staring at Collin like he was challenging the
other man to call him a liar.  When I looked over at Collin, he didn’t look
convinced about Ash’s claim of possession over me.

“Well, you ever
change your mind, Skye, I won’t be too far away.”  Collin winked.

Ash was about to
get up to do who knows what to Collin but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back
down.

“He’s just
teasing, Ash.”

But my words
didn’t seem to deflate my best friend’s anger.

“You,” Ash said
pointing a finger at Collin, “stay away from her.”

Collin laced his
fingers behind his head and leaned back in his seat.  “And if I don’t?”

The conversation
was taking a bad turn.  The whole point of my starting an oral exchange with
the outsiders was to make friends with them not cause more problems.

“If you don’t
leave her alone, dude, you’ll have to deal with me too,” Kale said.

“And me,” Kirk
proclaimed.

“And you don’t
even
want to know what I’ll do to you,” Ian leaned forward resting his elbows on his
thighs staring straight at Collin.  If looks could actually kill, Ian would be
a master assassin.

“Hey hey,” Flash
lifted his hands in surrender.  “No need to start a ruckus.  It’s just been a
long time since we were around such pretty girls.  And like Collin said, most
of the girls in our group are spoken for.”  Flash turned his attention to Zoe. 
“How about you?  You hooked up with anybody?”

Zoe’s eyes
widened.  “I…I don’t have a boyfriend if that’s what you’re asking.”

Flash cleared his
throat.  “Think I could take you out sometime then?  You know if you’re not
busy or anything.”

Zoe looked over at
me like she wanted me to tell her what to do. 

“It’s your
decision, Zo,” I told her.

Zoe looked back at
Flash and rewarded him with a shy smile.  “I guess that would be ok.”

Flash smiled
back.  “Cool.”

The men of our
group didn’t seem to like the idea of Zoe having anything to do with an
outsider from the expressions on their faces, but they didn’t say anything. 

“All right,
children,” Doc Riley called from the front of the transporter.  “We seem to be
here.  The President’s transporter has stopped.”

When we stepped
out of our vehicle, a mountain with three carved figures loomed before us.  The
three men were on horse back and dressed in old uniforms like soldiers from the
War Between the States.  I couldn’t remember their names but knew where we were
because I had seen the carving in a travel magazine once. 

“Stone Mountain, Georgia,”
I said aloud.

“Yeah,” Ash
agreed.  “I remember you showing me the picture of the mountain.”

It took a while
for everyone to get out of their transporters.  There were close to a hundred
transporters in all.  Nearly a thousand people crowded around the base of the
mountain waiting to see what would happen next.  Word quickly spread through
the crowd the president wanted to personally escort the outsiders into the
second Southern Kingdom first.  I could only assume it was a political move
designed to smooth over any ruffled feathers.  I hoped the president succeeded
in bringing peace through diplomacy because I had failed miserably in my small
attempt.

“See you inside,”
Flash said to Zoe, giving her a quick smile.

Zoe nodded and
smiled back.

“Zoe and Flash
sitting in a tree, K-I S-S-I-N-G,” Kale said in a sing-song voice. 

He was quickly
rewarded with a slap on the back of the head from Teegan.

“Hey, I was just
picking…” Kale defended, rubbing his head.

Teegan pointed a
finger at him and wagged it.

“Yeah yeah, I get
the message loud and clear,” Kale said.

“You’re such a
juvenile,” Kirk rolled his eyes at Kale.

Kale shrugged.  “I
know.  Can’t help it.  It’s just who I am, man.  Love me or leave me.”

Teegan wrapped an
arm around one of Kale’s.  She had obviously made her choice.

Being near the
front of the crowd, we were able to watch as the President walked to a point at
the base of the mountain and placed his hand flatly against it.  When he pulled
his hand away, a small, square lighted touch pad appeared in the stone.  The President
quickly entered a code.  The sound of grinding stone filled the air as a large
portion of the rock next to the touchpad was pulled inward and slid to the
right.  The entrance seemed to be a little bit bigger than the size of one of
the transporters.  From somewhere in the depths of the mountain, a light shined
brightly beckoning the newcomers to enter.  Once all of the outsiders were
inside, those of us at the front of the awaiting crowd began to move forward
intent on following them in.

“Wait!” My father
called out.  Everyone stopped and looked to him.

Gunshots from
within the mountain were heard but soon cut off by the closing of the large
rock wall door.  Panic quickly spread through those of us left behind.

“Did they kill the
President?” Someone yelled.

“Are they just
going to leave us out here?” Someone else cried.

My father just
stood staring at the spot on the mountain where the entrance had been.

“Dad, what’s going
on?” I asked, pulling on the sleeve of his coat to regain his attention.

He looked down at
me.  Tears welled in his eye as he shook his head.  “I’m so sorry, Skye.  I
wish I could protect you from the bad things of this world but I can’t.  I’ve
tried but I can’t.”

“What are you
talking about?  What’s happening?”

“They’re fates
were sealed when they took us hostage,” my father continued, his eyes becoming
vacant.  “There wasn’t any other way.”

“Dad, what are you
talking about?  What’s happening?”

My father turned
to the crowd.  The look on his face was completely void of emotion like he was
hiding behind a mask of indifference.

“Everyone please
get back into your transporters.  As soon as the president returns, we will be
heading to the secondary facility.”

People began to
yell at my father asking him where we were and what was happening inside the
mountain.

“Jon,” Doc Riley
said.  “I thought this was the secondary habitation module.  If it’s not, what
is it?”

The crowd went
silent awaiting my father’s answer.

“It’s a harvester
installation.”

It was like my
father had set a bomb off in the middle of the crowd.  People ran for their
transporters not needing to know more.  But I needed an explanation.  I needed
him to face me and tell me the truth.

“Was this your
plan all along?” I asked my father.  “Is that what the council was arguing
about: whether or not to bring the outsiders here?”

When my father
looked at me, I didn’t know who he was.  His face was a mask of soullessness. 

“We have to do
what’s best for everyone,” he answered, like he was reciting a piece of preplanned
propaganda.

“But you didn’t,”
I countered.  “You handed the outsiders over without even giving them a chance
to fight for their lives.  You led them to slaughter like they were a bunch of
cattle.  What’s wrong with you?”  I knew I was shouting but couldn’t help it.

“How do you know
they wouldn’t have killed us all once we took them to the second Southern
Kingdom?”  My father asked.  “It was either trust them or get rid of them. 
After what they did to the original site, the council decided they couldn’t be
trusted.  There wasn’t any other choice to be made, Skye.”

“So you would
rather trust a bunch of harvesters than other human beings?  Is that what it’s
come down to?  We trust the animals more than we do living, breathing humans? 
People who just wanted a chance to live a better life?  What the hell happened
to you, Dad?  I don’t even know who you are anymore.  And I’m not sure I want
to.”